Watching re-runs at 2am? They know who you are

Today pay TV's one million subscribers will, according to new ratings, watch Baywatch, Buffy, Bewitched and Bonanza, Rex Hunt kissing fish and test cricket from England.

This much we now know, thanks to the first public release of pay TV ratings this week. But exactly who is watching? What sort of people are they?

Foxtel, Austar and Optus aren't sure - or so they say. But Melbourne's William Burlace knows.

Mr Burlace is director of media services at Roy Morgan Research, which surveys the community and sells the information to advertising agencies. Even though pay TV's ratings were small, he said, they were revealing.

At the most obvious level they showed that the most-watched channels were, in order, Fox 8, The Lifestyle Channel, TV1, The Disney Channel, Fox Sports, Showtime and Arena. Fox 8 - devoted entirely to reruns of US hits like The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Beverly Hills 90210 - was way out in front. The ratings were based on averages from last week's viewing.

But it's the less obvious material that provides the most interesting insights into pay TV and the people who watch it. The Roy Morgan Research findings, which Mr Burlace shared with The Age, showed that most Victorian viewers of Fox 8, Foxtel's most popular channel, "especially chose" to watch it. That is, they did not channel-surf into it.

Most Fox 8 viewers were between 14 and 24, single and lived with their parents. The Lifestyle Channel, on the other hand, screening cooking, antiques, Rex Hunt and renovating, attracted, according to Mr Burlace, "a very different audience". They were likely to be white-collar women with children earning a high income. Almost 65 per cent, in fact, were women.

TV1, which screens retro classics - such as Bewitched - was different again, said Mr Burlace.

"This channel's audience is like a mix of Fox 8 and Lifestyle." They were likely to be either young couples or those on a "middle income" in "mid-life". They were deemed "occasional grocery shoppers".

Arena, which screens programs such as Saturday Night Live and Jenny Jones, attracted 20 or 30-something young parents earning between $30,000 and $50,000 a year. But Showtime, a blockbuster movie channel, lured young urban professionals earning more than $70,000 a year as well as unskilled, low-income workers.

Not surprisingly UKTV - screening The Bill, Benny Hill and Top of the Pops - attracted a high number of British-born migrants. Most were wealthy managers from the AB demographic.

Mr Burlace said the spread of pay TV in Victoria was broad and not confined to a particular socio-economic group, although the majority were in Melbourne rather than the regions. The most popular channels, however, each had their own distinct audience.

"Pay TV," Mr Burlace said, "when you look for little differences to tease out, is all about niches."